Leadership at the Basin
Maundy Thursday Devotion by Bridget Cabrera
“After he had washed their feet, put on his robe, and returned to the table, he said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.’”
— John 13:12-15 (NRSV)
On the night of betrayal, Jesus doesn’t posture with power—he kneels with purpose. He takes off his robe, wraps a towel around his waist, and washes the feet of his disciples. Including the one who will betray him. Including the one who will deny him. Including the ones who will scatter and hide.
This is the kind of leadership the Church—and the world—desperately needs right now.
Not leadership obsessed with control or comfort. Not leadership that avoids conflict or cowers behind polite neutrality. But leadership that risks proximity to pain. Leadership that bends low in humility, that sees dignity in every person, and that uses its power not to dominate but to liberate.
Jesus does not lead from a throne—but from a basin.
In this moment—when justice is on the line, when communities are under attack, when marginalized people are still being denied full dignity in the church and society—we are called to lead as Jesus did: by kneeling, by serving, by refusing to look away from the dirt on one another’s feet.
We are called to be leaders who remember that communion and resistance are intertwined. That love is not soft—it is fierce. That true discipleship doesn’t climb ladders of status, but descends into solidarity.
Where in your life or leadership are you being called to kneel in humility rather than grasp for control?
Who are you being asked to serve—not abstractly, but concretely, even when it’s uncomfortable?
How can your leadership reflect Jesus’ call to embody love with your whole self—heart, hands, and voice?
Servant Christ,
You chose the basin over the sword. The towel over the title.
Teach us to lead with courage and compassion,
To choose proximity over pride, and solidarity over silence.
Prepare us, as you did your disciples,
Not just for a table of grace,
But for a cross that demands our all.
Amen.
Bridget Cabrera (she/her/hers)
is the Executive Director of Methodist Federation for Social Action (MFSA). With over 17 years of non-profit experience, Bridget has served as Deputy Director of the Reconciling Ministries Network, a leader in the Love Your Neighbor Coalition, and Executive Secretary for National Ministries with United Methodist Women (UMW) national office. She holds a Bachelor's in Science in Music Education from the University of Alabama, a Master’s in Divinity from Emory University (Candler School of Theology), and an Executive MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.